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Thursday, December 17, 2009

Quotes, Notes, and Links: Hawks 110 Grizzlies 97

Joe Johnson played excellent defense on Rudy Gay last night. If Joe continues to defend 3s this well and Jamal Crawford and Mo Evans keep shooting the ball well, it's tough to figure out when and where Marvin Williams will get minutes.

"The biggest thing is [Johnson] didn't give him a lot of room to operate. Rudy's an explosive player. When he has enough space, he can do a lot of things. I think Joe took up that space from him tonight."

Joe Johnson:

"I love that challenge [of] showing a different side of me, not just the offense but defensively guarding their best player."

I don't know if Josh Smith ever expected to be asked a post-game question about Randolph Morris and Othello Hunter but he handled it with aplomb: "Any time those guys get a chance to come in and contribute to a win, it's always good. We're going to need those guys if someone gets hurt."

Lionel Hollins:

"We had a lot of turnovers, man. That was basically it."

'Nique touted a similar line through much of the broadcast last night but Memphis didn't really pull ahead of the Hawks in number of turnovers committed until they turned it over four times in the first 3:20 of the fourth quarter, at which point the result was less in doubt than when Woodson would pull the starters.

"They are hard to match up against, they're very athletic, and they do a good job of diversifying what they're doing. hey have unique talent. We don't have that kind of versatility. Youth had nothing to do with that. It was turning the ball over, and letting them have layups, and not executing very well. You can't defend layups."

Were I a Grizzly fan, I would not be especially impressed by that post-game diagnosis from the head coach.

Marc Gasol:

"We just couldn't do anything with their athleticism. The way they switched and boxed out hurt us tonight. Al Horford is a great offensive rebounder, and Josh Smith is coming from the outside to box out."

As a Hawks fan, that warms the part of my heart I save for rebounding.

I was at a loss to find the team that had previously won 9 of 15 and taken the Celtics down to the last possession just two nights previous. They held it close while the Hawks were playing extremely sloppy early, but I never got a glimpse of an offense that is supposedly fuctional.